Springfield's current unemployment rate is 6.9%

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP)- New research shows that nationally the amount of employers hiring is increasing. 22News found out why people in Western Mass. say that improvement isn’t being felt on a local level.

Nationally, unemployment rates nationally have been steadily improving, but perhaps not quickly enough.

“It doesn’t seem like its improving at all. I have friend that are just graduating college and some of them can’t get jobs at this point because the market is not picking up or boosting the way they say it is,” Thomas Janco, from Springfield, said.

Now new research from CareerBuilder.com says that nearly half of all U.S. employers plan to add full-time employees for the second half of this year. There’s also a slight increase to the number of employers who plan to hire part time workers.

While the study says those numbers are an improvement nationally from last year, Springfield residents say they’re not feeling any improvement right here locally.

Peter Bilodeau, from Springfield, told 22News, “I think for the time being it’s pretty hard to fathom that there are a lot of these jobs out there, because I just don’t see it myself. You know as a working guy it’s pretty skinny out there right now.”

The study found the areas that will see the most improvement in the number of people hired include, Information Technology, financial services, hospitality, health care, and manufacturing.

Nationally the unemployment rates stand at 6.1%, slightly higher than the Massachusetts 5.6%, and lower than Springfield’s 6.9%.